Thursday, April 29, 2010

This new Blog will feature my hand carved Gnomes at first, but will be including photos of other folks hand carved Gnomes as well. One of the reasons to start up this new blog is to provide a place for the folks who have received one of my Gnomes to post photos of their Gnome in different scenes. Could be kind of like the "traveling Gnome" from the TV ad.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Some may remember that I co-teach a quilting class at our county senior center. This is a group project that we are doing the final assembly on. The finished quilt will be raffled off for the center. Each class member did a couple squares. All and all a fun project, that will result in a very nice quilt. Next we have to add an inner border and a wider outer border, then quilt it.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Flower Girls returned Gnomey's hat, after finding it stuck in the trampolines side net. I guess they thought that since Gnomey hand wrote the note, that he may need an eraser. I also noticed that they had spruced up around Gnomey's door. They had left some new sprouts, saying that they may be flowers. One of the Flower Girls, exclaimed, "don't pull them out. Mom's already POISONED the dandelions". I told her she could pick my dandelions, as I won't poison the ones in my yard.

I told the Flower girls to be sure to keep the door to their trampoline zipped up, or critters might get in at night and start bouncing. This is evidence that Gnomey sneaked in at night. And by the looks of things might have bounced a wee bit too much.

Yesterday evening the girls came running up to our house, with the hat. I was at a wood carvers meeting so my wife told me of the excitement. Both were out of breath, and Dahlia was most excited. She said, " Gnomey was bouncing, and has hat got stuck in the side of the trampoline". Zinnia explained and demonstrated how Gnomey must have bounced so high and had his head to the side, when his hat got stuck. They wanted to know what they should do with the hat. My wife just told them to put it in Gnomeys mailbox.....We'll see!

Monday, April 19, 2010

The Johnny Appleseed Woodcarving Show was held in Mansfield Ohio this past weekend. This is a very well run woodcarving show that attracts many great carvers, as participants/exhibitors as well as folks to see some great woodcarvings. While the attendance of folks to look and see might have been down this year, I did well in selling some smaller stuff. This first photo is an example of some ornaments and and pins that I displayed.

Here's some more of my miniatures. I decided to concentrate on Gnomes this year. Maybe I'm trying to generate some more interest in the Gnomes and the fun they can bring into ones life.

Here's a photo of my table. I sold a Noah's Ark and a whole lot of Gnomes and small Santa ornaments and ear rings.

Here's an example of why I said some great carvings at this show. That blue ribbon says "Best of Show". This is a carving by, Ron Allinger, Quincy, Ohio.

Flower girl told me that Gnomey played a trick on me. I said, "That's what Gnomes do sometimes". She said, "Gnomey didn't pull any dandelions." I said, "yep! I noticed." She said, "I know! you must have been mean to him, and he's just getting even."

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A beautiful sunny spring day greeted us yesterday and today. I've already had to mow Yesterday afternoon I noticed that there were lots of dandelions in full bloom. Then early this morning I noticed that the dandelions were still closed up. I could not let this opportunity for a Gnome "adventure" pass me by. I told the youngest Flower girl that I'll bet Gnomey would pull all my dandelions tonight after dark. Next I told her to look at my yard when she gets up in the morning, and give me a report.....

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Returning from vacation, we found a trampoline in the Flower Girls backyard. Notice, it's one of the new models with no springs. This means that there are no opening for legs to go through and cause injuries. The girls didn't like it when I said the trampoline looked like a kid cage. I asked their dad if the zipper door had a lock on it.

I told the girls that they should be sure that they close the zipper door every night. They asked me. "Why"? Well, I could not resist. I replied, " The other night I heard something bouncing in the middle of the night". To that, Dahlia stated, "Gnomes"! I said, "either Gnomey or a possum". Zinnia next exclaimed, Gnomes arn't heavy enough to make the trampoline bounce". Zinnia is pretty smart, she just got all excellents on her report card. But Dahlia came to my rescue, by stating "Gnomes are magic you know"!

Friday, April 9, 2010

I have been busy whittling some little Gnomes. I didn't start out to do so many, but it just happened. The smaller Gnomes are about one inch in height, the larger ones three inches. Some are glued to drift wood from the beach, with shells on them.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

This little 3 inch Gnome is an example of how a carving may be finished with a minimum of effort. Painting takes a lot of effort, and the results can sometimes make the piece look like a plastic piece. For this carving I decided to just give the hat a light wash of red water color paint. After the hat dried I used a tooth brush to apply a colored wax over the whole carving. After buffing it looks older than I am.....This is a fast way of finishing a carving.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

I whittled these little "Whittle Sticks" to have something that was fast, easy, and that kids might like. These "Whittle Sticks" are 1/4" x 1/4" x 4", and I whittle wizards, owls, penguins, eagles, Santa's, anything else that is fast and easy on them. Some are finished with shoe polish, some with colored wax. I have been able to whittle one of these in about 10 minutes, while explaining what I am doing to the kids that will always stop and watch. The kids that are interested, get one. I'll bet I gave away 20 on the beach. Maybe a future wood carver among them.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

We arrived home yesterday afternoon from Florida. I was there for five weeks, so glad to get home. The Flower Girls come running (and jumping up and down) greet us. They soon revealed the reason for the jumping up and down. They had a huge trampoline set up in their back yard, and had been spending all time out of school and bed jumping up and down. Dahlia gave me a hug and asked me if I brought Gnomey home. I said, " I think so". I told that when I was packing to come home that I had a pile of carved Gnomes on the table, and when I woke up the next day that the Gnomes were all lined up in a row. I said that I thought that was Gnomey's way of telling me he was there. Dahlia next said, "yeah, he'd do that".

This is the note that Gnomey will leave when he knows he won't be seen.

About Me

Retired male. Next birthday will be 78. Spend most of my time carving and quilting. Retired early (51) from a major university; so I am gettin this retirement thing down real good. I talked myself into wood carving. My daughter talked me into making quilts.